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Back Snow Creek Save as PDF
Chapters (57)
  1. Books by Gregg Olsen
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-One
  25. Twenty-Two
  26. Twenty-Three
  27. Twenty-Four
  28. Twenty-Five
  29. Twenty-Six
  30. Twenty-Seven
  31. Twenty-Eight
  32. Twenty-Nine
  33. Thirty
  34. Thirty-One
  35. Thirty-Two
  36. Thirty-Three
  37. Thirty-Four
  38. Thirty-Five
  39. Thirty-Six
  40. Thirty-Seven
  41. Thirty-Eight
  42. Thirty-Nine
  43. Forty
  44. Forty-One
  45. Forty-Two
  46. Forty-Three
  47. Forty-Four
  48. Forty-Five
  49. Forty-Six
  50. Forty-Seven
  51. Forty-Eight
  52. Forty-Nine
  53. Fifty
  54. Hear More from Gregg
  55. Books by Gregg Olsen
  56. A Letter from Gregg
  57. Acknowledgements

I hold out the swab, and he opens his mouth like a baby bird. A severely injured bird. I feel my hand shake a little as flashes of my own life come back to me. I know what’s coming next for them. It won’t be easy. It will leave a scar for the rest of their lives.

“It won’t hurt,” I say. “I’ll just rub the tip against your cheek.”

I finish and put the swab into the kit and seal it.

“Our dad had his issues, but he wouldn’t hurt our mom. Not like that. His kind of hurt was not talking to her for days. Never even yelled at her.”

I won’t tell him what I’m thinking. The strong silent type is often silent because to give words to what’s in his mind would shock his audience. Ted Bundy never said a cross word to his girlfriend, but inside he was reliving the things he did to the girl he’d just left, skull shattered, head severed, in the woods. Gary Ridgway had his son in the truck when he picked up women to murder and dump along the Green River. Wait here, he’d say. Me and my friend are taking a walk. After raping and strangling her, he’d take his boy for an ice cream. Playing the murder like a silent movie in his head while the boy ate his cone.

“I’ll call your Aunt Ruth,” I say, “but it would take her a day at best to get here.”

Joshua nods. “Yeah. Thank you.”

“Do you have anyone in the neighborhood you can be with?”

He shakes his head.

“I mean there are people around here, but we only know them in passing. I don’t even know their names.”

“Are you going to be all right? Should I send someone out here tonight? Otherwise, I’ll be back when I have more news. You call me if you need anything, Joshua?”

“We’ll be fine,” he says, tucking his shoulder-length hair behind an ear. He’s acting strong for my benefit, showing me that he can deal with the tragedy. I also see the hope in his eyes. “Our dad has to be out there,” he says. “Someone must have abducted them. Maybe he escaped or something?”

I doubt it, though I don’t say so.

“We’ll do our best to find him.”

Fourteen

I try Ruth Turner three times but no one picks up. Maybe she’s at the church caucus, whatever that is. Or her husband won’t allow her to take my call. There’s no answer on her so-called borrowed cell phone, either. Though I wonder how close the sisters actually were—after all, she hadn’t been to Snow Creek in a half dozen years, I know that my words will crush her.